


Fixing for a Date

by RosexKnight



Series: Tumblr Drabble Prompts [12]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 15:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10834263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosexKnight/pseuds/RosexKnight
Summary: You keep bringing your car into my shop with a series of increasingly unlikely problems and my professional opinion is it’d be cheaper for you to just ask me to dinner already AU





	Fixing for a Date

“What seems to be the problem, Mr. Gold?”

Some would say the way Belle French dressed on a normal day of work wasn’t at all attractive. The top of her one-piece denim work uniform was always tied around her waist, allowing her freer movement in her tanktop and the baggy pants. They were almost always stained in oil or grease. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, a few strands sticking to her forehead.

She was marvelous.

“The accelerator seems to be sticking, Miss French.” Gold said as he pulled the lever to pop the hood of his frankly immaculate Caddilac.

“Again?” Belle’s brows furrowed.

She lifted the hood, her gaze going focused as she looked over the engine and other things under the hood. It all looked like a blur of metal and wires to him, but Belle seemed to know what she was doing.

The town thought her odd, the daughter of the florist who spent most of her free time in sundresses and skirts in the library working at the local mechanic’s shop. But Mr. Gold, the most feared man in Storybrooke found it fascinating. The first time he’d brought his Caddilac in due to break problems he’d been wary of Belle French’s abilities. But the way she gave him a warm smile and touched his car as if it were an old friend gave him pause. The entire time she worked, they chatted, Gold insisting he remain present until the work was done. Belle didn’t bat an eye, talking with him about anything and everything that came to their minds. By the time his car was fixed, he didn’t want it to end. Ever since, if his car so much as clicked in an odd way, he brought it in if only just to see her smile again.

“Everything looks alright to me, Mr. Gold.” Belle said, letting the hood close as gently as she could. “Are you sure it was the accelerator?”

She was smiling at him again, and Gold felt something different about it today. He only shrugged it off.

“Well Miss French I’m not as well versed in the mechanics of vehicles but I know when my car feels off.”

Belle only nodded, stepping towards him for a moment, letting her finger run against the frame. For a moment he felt a pang of jealousy, which was ridiculous. Her hands were probably calloused and hard from working. But still part of him wanted to feel them on his skin.

“Mr. Gold I can guarantee your car is in miraculous condition.”

“And how can you be so sure, Miss French?”

“Well you do bring it to me to take care of.”

“Well perhaps your skills aren’t as great as they seem if I have to continue to bring it here.”

“Or perhaps you should stop paying me to fix problems that aren’t there and simply ask me out to dinner already.”

Gold gaped at her, the grip on his cane faltering. Belle only beamed. Had she been able to see through him this entire time? Was he truly being that obvious? No. No she must have wanted something. She knew he had money. She must have been trying to take advantage of him. That was simply it.

“Or perhaps I can treat you.” Belle suggested. “I’ve saved up more than enough for a nice evening out in New York.”

Gold stiffened. “You can’t. That’s now how–”

“Well it’s all money you’ve paid for me to fix your car. So it’s really as if you’re paying, if that’s your protest.”

She’d caught him. Belle French had read him like a book and given him no room to protest. Finally, he smiled. There was no use fighting it now.

“It seems I wasn’t being as discreet as I hoped…” Gold grumbled.

Belle giggled, an oddly delicate sound that clashed with her surroundings. “No not at all. But I didn’t mind. So…”

“Yes! Yes. Dinner. In New York. Friday. If…if you’d like?”

“Oh Mr. Gold…” Her warm smile was back, and her hand moved from his car to his hand. Impossibly, they were soft. And that made his bones tremble. “I’d love to.”


End file.
